One of my favorite books to review numbers at the beginning of the year is 10 Black Dots by Donald Crews. My students love to use their imagination to create pictures with black dots. I order black dot labels from Amazon or Office Depot.

As a first grade teacher, I would use this Number Book as a review, but this would be a great resource to use in Pre-K or Kindergarten as students are learning about numbers. My grade level and I were looking for a way to review numbers, number words, and number representations. I made this into a book for each student to complete in class as a follow up to the daily lesson. We used this book as a project/minor grade in Math. In this packet, you will find a page with each number from 1-10 in different representations such as tally marks, dice, dominoes, and ten-frames.

The students then infuse Art into Math when dots are used to create pictures on the following page to represent the number.

You will also find a page that you can use to quickly assess your students progress at the end of the packet.

This chart is designed differently than other clip charts. It is designed to be printed as a banner on vinyl at your local print shop. Simply save the PDF and take or send to your print shop of choice. This banner saves you time in printing, cutting, and assembling! Because clothes pins tend to be a little heavy, vinyl will be more durable and last longer than paper. It measures 12 x 50 inches when printed. We recommend adding grommets to the top and bottom corners for stability.

We designed this banner as part of a school-wide discipline plan and it has produced excellent results. We also included our parent letter explaining the system. You can use ours to make your own to fit your needs and grading system.

The chart is set up as follows:
You’re A Rock Star!
Can I have your autograph?
A Star Performance
Ready to Rock (everyone starts here each day)
Sound Check
Singin’ the Blues
Contact Management

One of the ways I keep my classroom running smoothly is by the help of my “Table Captains.” I have 4 tables in my classroom, and they are organized by color; red, green, blue, and yellow. Each table has 4 or 5 students. At the beginning of every week, one student is named the “Table Captain” for the entire week. This picture shows how I organize the rotation of the students. I turn the top of the star to the child who comes next. I will describe below how I made the Star Spinners. The Table Captain is the student at each table who is in charge of getting and putting away any materials or manipulatives that are needed for their table during a lesson.

Here is a close-up of the Star Spinner for the blue table. I cut out a white circle and laminated it before writing on it. I wrote Table Captain on the blue star before I laminated it. I used a brad to attach the star to the white circle, and this allows the star to spin. I wrote the names of the students who sit at the blue table. Willie would be the Table Captain for this week, Ian would be the Table Captain the following week, and so on…

After I choose the student to be the Table Captain, he/she will put this Star Cone at his/her desk as a fun reminder that they are the Table Captain for the week. This also helps to remind the other students that want to take over the job! I found these cute cones at Party City in the circus section. The stars are out of a pack of cut-outs. I hot-glued the stars to a popsicle stick, and I punched a hole in the top of the cone to poke the popsicle stick through.

Last year I decided to try something a little different. I wanted to make my calendar more interactive, but my bulletin board with my calendar just wasn’t cutting it! What better way to make it more interactive than with the SMARTBoard. I looked on SMART Exchange and found an adorable notebook that a teacher had created with a calendar and many other activities. I downloaded it and edited the notebook by adding my own personal touches. I added my own pages as well to incorporate things I was already doing during my Morning Meeting/ Calendar Math.

This 36 page SMART Notebook Activity will engage your students as you start your day with the following activities: Attendance/Calendar/Days/Months/How Many Days in School-Place Value/Weather Tally/Lost Tooth Graph/Venn Diagrams/Survey Question/Counting Money and Coin Review/Addition and Subtraction/Number Line/Numbers and Number Words/Fact Families/Shapes

There are 12 calendars included with interactive number cards and holiday cards to label your calendar. The kids love to manipulate the pictures on the calendar! The other activities can be used on different days of the week to introduce, review, or reinforce the skills you are teaching in math. Throughout the notebook you will see empty boxes with a music note. This is where I inserted my songs that I use during my calendar time. The songs are not included due to copyright, but most of my music came from my trusty Dr. Jean and Mr. AL CDs.

I start off on the first day of school with this notebook by teaching the students how to move their name on the attendance chart and completing the calendar activities. I always do the daily routines like calendar, weather, counting how many days in school, and tooth tally every day. I don’t do all of the other activities every day. I pick one or two extra each day and change it up throughout the week. Directions are included in a pull down tab on each page, but if you have any questions let me know. The original version of this can be found on SMART Exchange under Calendar.

I LOVE APPLES! What a fun way to start off a back-to-school Numbers to 10 math unit by reading Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins. It is one of my favorite books, and I love to accompany this book with Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss! This Ten Red Apples Activity Pack has many activities to help your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students have fun while learning about the numbers 1-10 and their corresponding number words. The included poem, Ten Red Apples, is an awesome way to have your students get moving as you act like an apple tree losing its apples. Let me know what you think!

Rainbow Shapes Activity Pack is a great way to introduce 2-D shapes to your students. There are 11 basic shapes included, each one having its own 8 1/2 x 11 page. You can use the pages to write characteristics of each shape to display in your classroom. They would also make a great shape display for your students to reference for writing activities!

Are you ready for the First Day of School? You will be with this Kissing Hand Activity Pack to use with your students on the first day of school! You will find over 80 pages of presentation pages, worksheets, literacy and math center activities, parent notes, and writing activities!

This Back to School Pack is focused on the book, The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn. It supports the Reading & Writing Common Core Standards for K-2.

Included in the Back to School Activity Pack are the following:
Essential Vocabulary Flashcards
Color Word Flashcards that can double as a Memory Match Game
I Read Closely Worksheet- Two Types
First Day Feelings Worksheet- Five types
Chester Character Web
Retelling and Sequencing- Beginning, Middle, End Worksheet
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How Worksheet
Characters/Setting Worksheet
Character Comparison to Student
School Settings Comparison
Story Elements- Characters, Setting, Problem, and Solution
First Day of School Opinion Writing- Graphic Organizer
First Day of School Opinion Writing- Writing Format
Beginning Sounds Matching Game
Ten Frame Numbers Matching Game
Great Day Notes to Send Home
Kiss Goes On Poem
Little Raccoon Poem

Are you looking for a little something to give to your students on Move-In Day or the First Day of School? This Hershey Wrapper is an easy way to turn a simple treat into a personal gift! Instead of the traditional sucker, I wanted to give my students something they could keep after the treat was gone. After attending a baby shower where I saw the He/She Hershey Wrappers, I decided to make one for my students. I tried to find one that I liked, but couldn’t find one that used minimal ink in printing. I made this one, and it was a hit with my students and their parents.

There is a Hershey Wrapper for Preschool through Fifth grade. You will also find a back-to-school wrapper that can be used for a student to give to a teacher. Have fun making your students a fun back-to-school treat that they will remember!

Recently I’ve had a few people interested in how I manage my reading group rotation and literacy centers. This is the chart that I use in my classroom. I got the idea from a teacher at our school (Cindy) and I love it! I have used it for 2 years, and it is the best that I have tried. I’m going to try to explain it the best that I can. If you have any questions just let me know.

When I am doing my reading groups, I have the class divided into 3 groups of 6 or 7 students each. The wheel shows the 3 groups and how they rotate. I have one group of 6 at their seats doing independent practice activities. I have another group of 6 students with me at the reading group table. The remaining 6 students are at a literacy center. I only have one student in a center to cut down on noise and play. Some teachers like to have a pair in a center, so you could have only 3 centers. The blue pocket chart shows my 6 centers:

1. Computer

2. Computer

3. Listening/Writing Center

4. SMARTBoard

5. Word Study/Spelling

6. Class Library

These centers are represented by the pictures on the left of the pocket chart. Next to the pictures I have my 3 groups-blue, green, yellow- I only move the picture cards 1 time at the beginning of the reading group time. Whatever picture that is in front of their name is where they go that day. Each student only visits one center a day. It is a little confusing at first, but the students catch on very quickly and after awhile, we don’t even have to turn the wheel.

I always start with yellow group in reading group, then yellow goes to seatwork, then they go to centers.

Green group starts in centers, then comes to me for reading group, then goes to seatwork.

Blue group starts in seatwork, then goes to centers, then comes to see me last.

I really hope this makes sense! Let me know if it doesn’t and I will try again! 🙂

My students love their poetry journals! Each student in my class has a regular 3-prong folder in a designated color. We don’t ask for these on our supply list, so I just watch the sales to see when I can get them cheap! I don’t like the 3-prong plastic folders because they are extremely hard for my first graders to open by themselves. (I even have trouble.) I use these labels so when I tell my students to take out their poetry journal with the crayons, it helps them distinguish between all of the other folders. Every time I introduce a new poem, we add the poem to their poetry journal sometime during the week. The copy of the poem that I give them has no pictures, so that my students can illustrate the poem with their own meaning and creativity. We use highlighters to find our word wall words. Their poetry journal stays in their book browsing box to read when all of their other work is finished. This also makes a great literacy center activity or independent learning activity! Use Avery template 8163 or Office Max OM99062 White Shipping Labels.

Welcome to my new blog! I am very excited to start this new adventure. My name is Stephanie, and I am very passionate about my job as a first grade teacher, so that is where the name of my blog came from. The purpose of my blog is to share with other teachers things that are being used in my classroom to help my students learn.
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